Tryndamere Build

Table of Contents

Introduction

As many of you may know, I'm z3rg3m3n, the player who is in large part responsible for popularizing solo top Tryndamere.

If you have any questions about the guide or just need help, I have my own chat room in LoL called "z3rg3m3n" (no quotes)

Please message me there, if you need anything, or just want to talk :)

This chat room was created because it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with friend requests.

Thank you for your understanding

I have also started coaching for 15/hr to help pay for my college
tuition. PM me for more details, if you're interested. I have coached
often in the past, with good success, in many competitive games. In
LoL, I have coached around 40 players thus far, who have seen elo gains
ranging from 50 to 700. I am very lenient with time, dedicated to
helping you, and I always ensure that the agreement is
mutually-beneficial.

Masteries + Runes

My masteries are 25/5/0. In the offensive tree, I take all the AD/AS/dmg masteries, I take Summoner's Wrath and Demolitionist (I do not take Butcher). In the defensive tree, I take Summoner's Resolve, 2 points in Resistance, and 2 points in Hardiness.

Some other rune types to keep in mind: flat AD, attack speed, crit
damage. I have tried them out, but I honestly much-prefer my own rune
setup. It may, however, be preference-based.ɉɉ

Summoner Abilities

I take Ghost and Cleanse, which I feel are the most beneficial for offensive and defensive potential. I will go into all viable summoner spells and give an explanation of each:

:
Ghost. You need Ghost. No matter what other summoner spell you take,
Ghost is essential. It is the summoner spell that lets you chase, stay
on target, and escape. Unknown to many people, movement speed is
actually one of the most important factors in considering whether or not
your champion gets to autoattack while chasing. This has to do with the
programming, and most people have experienced it whether or not they're
aware of it (Ever chase someone and your character suddenly stops
instead of attacking/using ability? This is due to programming and
movement speed. This is also why it is recommended that you manually
move in-between autoattacks)

You already have the gap-closing spin and you have a possible-slow Mocking Shout. Trust me. Take Ghost.

Cleanse recently got buffed to remove exhaust and ignite, and with the
new masteries, you can take improved cleanse, even if you're in the
offensive tree! These are great buffs which make cleanse a must-take
summoner spell, and it synergizes perfectly with Ghost. Cleanse can be
used both defensively and offensively, and Tryndamere with cleanse,
ghost, and ult, can secure a kill on practically any champion that is
overextended! Be aware of your enemies' abilities (stuns/slows) and
their summoner spells (exhaust/ignite) to know when to best use cleanse!
And remember that it grants a lot of tenacity for a short amount of
time.

:

Ignite is good for a few things, and it's very kill-oriented, and I
value it as as somewhat below cleanse and ghost, but it's still a great
spell. Its uses are:

A) Healing debuff. It helps you kill and burn through pesky healing whether in the context of a 1v1 or a teamfight.

B) High Damage & DOT (Escaping targets & Teamfights): Ignite's
damage is actually very significant. You can apply it for a killing blow
on a target that would otherwise get away, since it is a Damage over
Time. Players with a late flash or a built-in flash that's coming off
cooldown can be effectively killed with ignite. This is especially true
when they reach "safe zones" such as towers or their allies.

You can also use ignite to kill a target that's almost dead but trying
to kite you/escape in a teamfight. Tryndamere needs to be constantly
attacking. You don't want to spend too much time chasing after one
target, even if you kill him, and you don't want him to get away. Ignite
solves this dilemma.

Lastly, you can use Ignite to kill a target or help your team in
last-ditch situations where you're about to die or you have to escape.

:
This summoner spell is honestly amazing. It helps shut down enemy
carries and it helps you & your team catch them. It's pretty
self-explanatory. This summoner spell is about as useful as ignite,
perhaps a bit more or a bit less, depending on team compositions.

:
It can be good for backdooring and getting to team objectives midgame
like dragon. But I would caution you on using this spell. It's a big
tradeoff for Tryn, but it may be useful in one or two situations.

:
Since it was nerfed and other spells are immensely better now, there is
basically no reason to ever take flash anymore. It's not worth it.

Mocking
Shout's slow and AD debuff is awesome and worth taking over slightly
reduced ult CD (the Rage is basically a non-factor).ɉɉ

Items

A) Starting Items
If I'm up against a tanky/high harass opponent in lane (Udyr, Garen, Renekton, Etc.), I take Doran's
Shield. The extra base health, the armor (vs the opponent AND creeps,
when you get creep aggro), and the health regeneration are very, very
important.

If I'm up against a squishy/low harass opponent in lane (Nidalee, Vladimir, Irelia,
etc), I take boots + health potions. The mobility is very nice, but you
have to think about whether the potions will last you and how effective
it is vs Doran's Shield.

There are honestly a lot of fringe cases, and a lot of it can be decided
by how much jungle support each team will be granted, and whether or
not anyone can lane swap. I might take Doran's Shield sometimes vs Jarvan IV, and at other times take boots + pots vs Jarvan IV. This isn't an exact science, but these are general parameters I have.

Cloth Armor + potions:
I have changed my mind about this starting item set. I used to dislike
it because it is not cost efficient unless you are building wriggles,
and I felt that this would offset your carry build too much in midgame.
However, I think that against some matchups, like renekton or an offensive gangplank,
it is probably the best and safest choice, and building wriggles can be
beneficial vs an AD-heavy team comp, or for a bit of extra
jungle/dragon/baron control. I still do not buy wriggles most games, as I
do believe it offsets Black Cleaver by a lot, but I do think it is a
good item for some situations.

I've seen many people asking about other starting item sets:

Doran's Blade / Longsword / Brawler's
gloves: The biggest problem I see with these is that they're extremely
risky, and not necessarily more beneficial than the other starting item
sets.

B) Midgame Items:

I always buy Berserker's
Greaves on my first time back to base. Very cost-efficient, and they
give stats that you need. Yes, sometimes you may want Mercury's Treads instead of Berserker's Greaves - but you won't need Mercury's Treads until much later in the game, and you can buy/sell Berserker's Greaves at a minimal cost, when compared to the benefit. Basically, buying Berserker's Greaves gives you the level 2 boots ASAP with stats that are useful, at a very low cost.

Here is, again, where it gets tricky. I change my build immensely at
this point based on many factors, such as how much gold I have, the
enemy team composition, and what I want to accomplish.

To elaborate and give a couple of examples:
Vs. a Nidalee, I might rush a Zeal and a Vampiric Scepter to match her mobility and lane sustain.
Vs. an Irelia I might stack Daggers to impose my advantage upon her, since she's low-harass and melee.

Another route to think about is rushing Youmuu's Ghostblade. I tend not to do it, but it's certainly not bad. I much prefer The Black Cleaver, most of the time. I think Youmuu's Ghostblade might be a better buy in SOME cases, though.

Pros: 1) Very reliable. Does not depend on a cooldown activatable. Grants extremely good stats to Tryndamere (attack damage, armor pen, attack speed) at all times.

2) It is a DEBUFF. What does this mean? It is better than just armor penetration. ANY person attacking the target with AD (Tryndamere
+ allies) will benefit from the 45 armor penetration debuff. Also, you
can actually get people BELOW 0 armor and do OVER 100% damage with this
debuff (which you cannot do with regular armor penetration.)

Cons: 1) You need to stack the debuff. Yeah, it's only 3 hits, but I should mention it.

2) It does not have a big "payoff" until you have the combined item.

For only an extra 200 gold, I'll gladly take The Black Cleaver most of my games.

Either way, these armor pen/attack speed items are actually core for Tryndamere. Infinity
Edge costs 1000 more gold than either of these and it doesn't offer
armor penetration or attack speed. I buy IE in long games after The
Black Cleaver, but unless the enemy is all stacking armor (which they
shouldn't be doing because of marginal cost), armor pen / attack speed
items are better than Last Whisper / Infinity Edge

Let's recap for a second. Our build should now be something like:

C) Endgame Items:

From here, I tend to buy Infinity Edge or Quicksilver Sash or finish a Phantom Dancer or build a Stark's Fervor or build a Last Whisper. Endgame items are mostly determined by enemy team composition and their items and summoner spells. Quicksilver Sash lets you take out an exhaust or a stun or an Ignite or dots. Infinity Edge can do some massive damage combined with The Black Cleaver if the enemy isn't stacking armor. Maybe you need high movement speed and reliable crits. Phantom Dancer will help. I can't really give you guys a comprehensive analysis, but keep these items in mind.

NOTE: Many times you will need to buy
things in a different order or buy different items altogether. In
general, I feel AP items to be a waste on Tryndamere. I make an exception when there's an enemy Karthus, and I buy Abyssal Scepter to counter his Requiem
until endgame. Just want to let you guys know that you have to adjust
your build to the situation. Maybe buying an endgame Guardian Angel is the way to go! It just depends.

NOTE 2.0: This is a general build for
optimizing at high-end ELO games. Yes, you can build differently and "do
well" at different ELO ranges. But the thing is, my build is focused
around high ELO. Atmogs( Atma's Impaler with Warmog's Armor) build can
be strong, but it is also extremely expensive, you don't optimize tryn's
role, and you don't get any payoff until very very endgame. There is
only a certain amount of time and gold that you have in high ELO games.
You have to optimize for that.ɉɉ

Gameplay

I want to make a disclaimer that you should adjust your gameplay for
each and every situation, in order to maximize your potential. It may be
easier in hindsight, and everyone should learn from their success and
from their mistakes. Here are some of my replays that will hopefully let
you see how I play (viewed through lolreplay):

This game was pre-patch, but it's vs some good players like Therainman
and Theoddone, and one of the rare games where I take exhaust. In this
game, I like to show how to be a team player on Tryndamere.

This game is post-patch, and the most noteworthy thing about it is
showing how to press your advantage and snowball. I start the game mid,
as I work with my ally karthus by asking him to go top vs teemo, as he
would counter me in lane. Karth and Yi end up getting first blood on
teemo, and as Morgana goes top, I swap with Karthus again. This time,
Teemo comes back alone, underleveled, and he makes the grave mistake of
overextending and not kiting. This effectively costs him the game as I
kill him once more, and shut him down while snowballing.

I may upload some more in the future. I hope these are helpful.ɉɉ

Final Comments

It was a pleasure writing this and I truly hope this helps players looking for help on Tryndamere.